It is already happening and with the availability of the tools like PyO3 [1] (it allows Python developers to write performance-critical code in Rust and then expose it as a Python module) the Rustication of the Python will be progressing while some controversies will appear [2]. Adding new language adds complexity to the python code base but it is always good to have at least choice and decide case-by-case if use Rust in Python app or not.
Why - I suppose that government want to get tactical advantage over protesters by limiting information flow and making protest coordination more difficult.
How - both deep packet inspection + filtering and primitive solution - making communication services (mobile and broadband) stop functioning. Such things happen already in the past in Turkey, Egipt, Iran.
Thanks, I'm aware of that - that is why I was thinking about low cost (say cost of Raspberry Pi) and distributed. When it is low cost - there is grater chance that large number of nodes can be deployed and single point of failure can be avoided.
[1] https://pyvideo.org/